Film Screening--"A Stranger of Mine" (Uchida Kenji, 2004, 98 min, Japanese w/ English subtitles, Color, 35mm) -- Writer/director Uchida Kenji makes his feature debut with this smart, tricky romantic comedy. Reika Kirishima stars as Maki, a forlorn young woman who has just broken up with her fiancé and has no place to live. Sitting alone with her luggage at a restaurant, she's determined never to trust anyone again. Clearly owing a debt to Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", Uchida engages in a similar kind of temporal trickery, backtracking to the beginning of his story again and again and gradually revealing the hidden motivations of his characters. Initially appearing as a standard romantic comedy, the tale turns out to be far more complex than it initially seems, involving a con artist, a yakuza boss, and a briefcase not quite full of stolen loot. --Part of the Japan Foundation Film Series within Cine-East. --Made Possible by the Japan Foundation (NY Office)